


the only place worth being

by merthurlin



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, can be read as pre-relationship, the major character death is more symbolic than anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 02:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18682741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merthurlin/pseuds/merthurlin
Summary: When the battle was over, they won. Nobody wanted to talk about what they lost.(Or: Riku steals Sora's heart, quite literally, and has to deal with the consequences.)





	the only place worth being

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to claire (@sorikuvalid on twitter) for editing this!

When the battle was over, there was a moment of quiet in the Keyblade Graveyard. A moment of stillness, before Xion and Roxas collapsed on each other, disbelieving that they were both here. Before Aqua grabbed Ventus and Terra in a hug, her arms shaking, all three clutching at each other like a lifeline. Before Lea approached Saix - no, Isa - cautiously, like one would approach an injured animal.

All around them, the ruins of Keyblade Masters from aeons ago crumbled, the power of the fading Kingdom Hearts sapping the last of their strength.

A moment of quiet stillness, before Kairi turned to look at Riku, her face stricken.

When the battle was over, they won. Nobody wanted to talk about what they lost.

\---

Kairi blames herself, Riku knows that. Knows exactly what is going on in her mind. Should have trained more, been better, faster, stronger - saved him like he saved her, like he saved all of them, over and over again. It doesn’t matter that she managed to block Xehanort at the last minute, made sure she wasn’t taken again. Riku said as much to her already, told her there was nothing more she could have done, but he knows better than most how guilt can sink into you, tie itself to your bones and veins and settle there, a second heartbeat next to your own.

Donald and Goofy blame themselves too. They pushed him too hard, they said, right before they left to go back to Disney Castle. Kept on pushing and pushing until he felt he had to give up everything to save everyone.

He doesn’t know if Roxas blamed himself, or Riku, or anyone. He simply lashes out at anyone but Xion and Lea, a writhing mass of anger and fear, feeling out of sorts with his other half gone gone gone, somewhere he can’t follow, can’t go running after and drag back.

Aqua, Ventus and Terra - honestly, Riku can’t blame them from staying detached. It’s clear that Ventus at least is grieving, mourning the loss of the boy who kept his heart safe for over ten years. But he has his friends back now, and Aqua hasn’t seen the sun in so long, and they both have to remind Terra how to be him again, and it’s just a lot to do and have and feel even without carrying about this one boy.

(Even if this boy is the reason they have all of this back. Alright, maybe Riku is feeling a _little_ bitter.)

Riku doesn’t blame himself. He doesn’t blame Kairi either, or Donald and Goofy, or any of the people who used to reside in Sora’s heart. He isn’t angry, or sad, or detached. There is no place for any of that inside his heart.

Because Riku has a secret, a treasure he stole into his own heart. And it’s a secret he is going to protect with everything he has.

\---

“I’m still mad at you, you know.”

Riku sighed, but didn’t stop doing his stretches. “I know.” He purposely didn’t look to his right. He knew he won’t see anyone there.

“I mean, this is stupid, even for you! And when I’m saying it that means something.”

He could almost imagine the pout that would accompany this statement, but it looks wrong in his mind, the expression of almost-17-years-old Sora on his 15-years-old face. It hurts, a bit, knowing that somewhere along the way he lost track of the changes he missed.

“You aren’t stupid, Sora.”

“Ha! Only took me dying for you to admit that.”

At that, Riku stopped his stretches. “You aren’t dead,” he snapped, looking nowhere in particular, wishing he could. Wishing there was someone there to look at.

“Yeah, because _you_ did something _stupid_.”

“It’s not stupid if it saves you,” Riku muttered, giving up on his stretches and sitting on his bed. “It’s just the only thing I could do.”

“Riku-”

“No, Sora,” Riku cut him off. “Tell me, if it was me - If I was the one who said, like an _idiot_ , that I needed to sacrifice myself for _the greater good_ ,” he spat it out, like poison, “Would you have just stepped back and let me?”

They have had this conversation a dozen times, maybe hundreds of time, since the Keyblade Graveyard. Riku won with this argument every time, which is why he doesn’t waste his breath saying anything else anymore.

Sora knew that, which is probably why he just groaned and said, “You just said I wasn’t stupid.”

“You aren’t stupid, but you’re still an idiot.”

Sora squawked in outrage. “Riku! That’s the same thing!”

Riku could feel a smile form on his lips involuntarily. And the universe wanted him to give up on _this_? As if.

“Anyway,” Sora continued, pout still evident in his voice, “Riku, you - you know. You know this… it can’t last forever.”

The smile vanished. “Says who?”

“Me!”

“Sora, you had Roxas and Xion in your heart for almost a year. You had Ventus there for more than a decade. I can keep you in my heart for however long it takes.” Riku glared, but the effect was probably diminished with no one to physically glare at.

“However long it takes? However long what takes?”

“Getting you a body, duh. Gonna be a bit hard to kick your ass when you don’t have one.” Riku was going for levity, but he knew he overshot by about a mile.

“Riku…” and by the light, this was the first time Riku was sorta glad he couldn’t see Sora’s face, cause he didn’t know what it would look like when accompanied by that tone, and he didn’t want to know. “You know it isn’t that easy, right? I can’t have a body again.”

“Why?!” Riku jumped up from the bed, agitated. He started pacing the room. “Because Xehanort said so?! Who cares! We beat him!”

“You’re being difficult on _purpose_. Riku-”

“No, whatever. I’m done with this conversation.” Riku span on his heels and made for the door.

“I’m in your heart, Riku. You can’t ignore me!”

Riku did just that and, after locking his door, started descending down the stairs. He can’t ignore Sora, true, but if he’s around one of the others, he couldn’t be tempted to respond, and that was as good as he could do right now.

\---

“I’m worried about you.”

Riku almost groaned out loud, but kept it in at the last second. It’s not that he was avoiding Kairi, per se, but - well, he was. Sora just wouldn’t shut up when she was around, and Riku was afraid he will slip up and actually answer him, which will surely rouse Kairi’s suspicions. And Kairi absolutely couldn't know.

‘Yeah, because she would never forgive you,’ and wasn’t that the kicker, that nowadays he couldn’t differentiate between his own thoughts and Sora’s opinions?

“You shouldn’t be, Kai,” he turned around to face her, and winced. She looked awful, all-around. Her eyes were bloodshot, with huge black circles around them. She gave him a smile, but even that was wobbly, and short-lasting. She, much like him, opted to stay at the tower instead of going back to Destiny Islands. ‘They were both cowards,’ she joked once, before laughter became sobs.

“Well, I am. Of course I am, you doofus.” She came to sit next to him on the ledge, their feet dangling from the highest level of the tower.

“Of course she cares about you, Riku. She is your friend.” Sora admonished him, before sighing. “She looks so sad…”

‘And whose fault is that?’ Riku wanted to ask him, wanted to _shout_ at him, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t fair - Sora just did what Sora has always done. The price this time was just higher.

“I’m fine. You’re the one who looks like you haven’t slept in weeks,” he said instead, ignoring the voice in his head, and the other one in his heart.

She shrugged. “It’s hard to sleep when I know he… can’t.”

It was inappropriate, but Riku couldn’t help but laugh. “Pretty sure he has slept enough for a lifetime. Both of us should try and catch up.”

“Hey!” Sora protested, before laughing.

Kairi gave him a weird look, but then chuckled a bit too. Riku counted that as a win. “Yeah, I guess… he always would just nap whenever he could. Hey, remember that time he took a nap in the middle of the soccer field outside of school?”

Riku snorted. “The team only noticed he was there when his body blocked the ball, yeah.”

“It was comfy!” Sora interjected. “Anyway, I later helped them with practice, so it all turned out alright. Hey, Riku, do you think they won any tournaments since we’ve been gone?”

“I don’t like this,” Kairi said suddenly. “The way we’re talking - like he’s gone.”

Riku’s heart clenched, but he had to say it. “Kairi - he is.”

“Then why does it feel like any second he will pipe in, with a question or a joke or anything, but he will be here, where we can see him and touch him and just. Here, with us, where he is supposed to be!”

There were tears in her eyes, and Riku was panicking. He was awful with tears, always has been. When they were younger, whenever Sora or Kairi cried, Riku would just flail around uselessly, until one of them would laugh so hard at his awkwardness to cry.

“Oh no, Kairi, don’t cry -” shit, Sora also sounded like he was going to cry, and how did that even work, if he was inside Riku’s heart - “I’m here! I promise, I’m right here!”

But obviously Kairi couldn’t hear him. “It isn’t fair. He was searching for us for _so_ long, and he did it! He found us! But then we got seperated, again and again and again, and I decided that this was it, I’m going to train as hard as I can to make sure we won’t ever be separated yet again, and it still wasn’t enough, because he isn’t here-”

Kairi was getting more and more worked up, and inside his heart, Sora was getting more and more frantic. Riku was getting a headache.

“Hey, no, Kai, come here,” and on impulse he grabbed her shoulders and tugged her into a half-embrace. It wasn’t typical for him - Riku was never the physical one, that was always Kairi and Sora’s forte but with Sora gone (or at least lacking a physical body) and Kairi drawing into herself, he is more than willing to step up to the bat, even if it makes him blush something fierce.

She quieted down for a few seconds. “I don’t understand you,” she said finally, not looking up at him. “You seem so… calm. How is this not tearing you up inside? I know you love - loved him.”

Riku winced at her question. He couldn’t very well say ‘well Kairi, it can’t really tear me apart when his heart is literally holding me together.’ She would never accept it.

“I’m just… taking it one day at a time,” he muttered, almost wincing again at how lame it sounded coming out of his mouth.

“You should tell her,” Sora said disapprovingly. “Friends shouldn’t lie to their friends.”

‘Like you didn’t lie?’ Riku thought, bitterly, meanly, with the voice of the kid who believed Maleficent when she told him Sora didn’t need him anymore, ‘When you told us everything is going to be alright, right before you went and sacrificed yourself?’

He doesn’t say it, of course. Would never say it. There are a lot of things he would never say to Sora, these days.

Kairi sighed and detangled herself from his arms. She was shivering in the cold, slight wind blowing this high up the tower. Riku never really understood how weather worked, in this strange bubble of a world.

“I just wish you would talk to me,” she said, still not looking at him. “It might feel less lonely for you too.”

And how could Riku tell her he would never be lonely again? How could he explain to her how selfish he had been, knowing he would be the only one to have Sora, the only one who could hear him and talk to him? And yet he still took Sora's heart, stole it really, because the alternative was unthinkable. But telling Kairi all of that felt almost equally as impossible.

\---

A month after their final battle with Xehanort, Riku made his way back to the Graveyard. Everyone else was still in the tower, recuperating, before eventually going their separate ways. Roxas was talking about showing introducing Xion to his friends in Twilight Town, while Lea and Isa were excitedly (or, as excitedly as Isa got, anyway) talking about what changed in Radiant Garden since they have last lived there. Aqua, Ventus and Terra didn’t say so outright, but everyone knew they would make it back to the restored Land of Departure. Aqua has even been talking about maybe training some new Keyblade Masters. “Xehanort may have been defeated,” she said. “But there is always going to be darkness. And so there must always be Keyblade Masters to fight against it.”

So everyone was resting back at the tower, but Riku was feeling restless. Sora’s voice was a constant cacophony against his ribcage, and Riku kept having to fight himself from blurting things out in front of the others, so much so that his lips were constantly chapped from biting. He couldn’t handle the pitying stares, not when there was nothing to pity him for, not when he was the only one who hadn’t lost a thing.

Going to the Keyblade Graveyard wasn’t a conscious decision. He had boarded the Gummi Ship thinking about going literally anywhere but there, and yet that’s where his heart led him. Or maybe Sora’s. It was hard to know these days.

Sora has been upset that he went. He berated Riku, saying that it was dangerous, there might still be Heartless around, and it wasn’t like he was going there to put Sora’s heart where it belonged, so it was a useless journey anyway. Riku snapped at that, saying Sora’s heart belonged right where it was and not decaying away at some shitty graveyard. It was the first time he got properly angry at Sora in a long time, and Sora recoiled at that, falling silent for the first time in a week. But Riku couldn’t apologize, not for saying the truth, and so they’ve both spent the journey through the badlands in silence.

He had walked for what felt like hours, but could have easily been minutes or days, for all he knew. The silence was eerie. If he concentrated, he could almost hear the distant sounds of the battle they had waged against Xehanort, shouting and clanging metal, sadness and anger mixing together. Here was where Saix almost struck Lea down - here was where Kairi almost got snatched away - here was where Ansem stood, giving Riku life advice, as if he had any right -

“You’re trembling.”

Sora’s quiet voice in the silence was almost deafening, and Riku startled, unclenching his fists. He almost whirled around to face the other boy, before remembering that wouldn’t do him any good.

“I’m fine,” he replied, almost automatically. It sounded unconvincing in the emptiness of the graveyard.

“C’mon, Riku, you shouldn’t be here,” Sora pleaded. “It’s obviously not doing you any good.”

“I’m fine,” Riku repeated, trying to insert more confidence into his voice than he had managed before.

The problem with childhood friends, the problem with having known Sora since they were both in diapers and the only words they’ve known were each other’s names, is that he never could quite trick Sora. Oh, sure, there was the odd prank here and there, maybe some white lies about Sora’s fashion sense, but not outright lies. Not when it mattered.

“Sure you are.” Riku could feel Sora rolled his eyes. “So now what? We’re just gonna stand around here? I might not have a body anymore, but I can still get bored.”

“Sora, you could get bored literally anywhere.” Riku almost smiled, even knowing there was no one there to see it.

“Talking to yourself now, aren’t you?”

For a second, Riku didn’t even realize that voice shouldn't be there. Or rather, that he could hear this voice with his ears, and not just with his heart, or however he has been communicating with Sora. He frowned, trying to figure out why Sora would even say something like that, before he heard (sensed? felt?) Sora gasp out: “Vanitas.”

He whirled around, and surely, surely this place must be haunted, the souls of hundreds and thousands of ancient keyblade wielders tormenting whatever poor soul stumbles into this place, because that couldn’t be Sora standing behind him, looking at him with a smirk, taunting him-

“Oh, don’t even start, I’m not Sora,” the ghost rolled his eyes at him, the smirk fading away into a scowl. And he wasn’t, obviously, now that Riku took a second look. The colors were all wrong, so unlike Sora’s browns and blues, and the face was twisted into shapes Sora would never, ever replicate. His stance was wrong, too - all straight lines and clenched muscles, instead of Sora’s slouch and bounce. His mom used to yell him for his posture, Riku suddenly remembered out of nowhere, telling him to sit up straighter if he didn’t want to end up with back pains by the time he was 25.

“Well, on the bright side, that’s not an issue anymore!” Sora commented with a morbid cheerfulness, and Riku couldn’t even yell at him for that, because first he needed to yell at him for not warning him that Vanits - the Vanitas that Ventus and Aqua were so afraid of, the one who almost killed Ven numerous times and has helped Xehanort almost destroy the world - apparently had Sora’s _face_.

“What, not going to answer me? Or do you only talk to the voices in your head now,” Vanits cocked an eyebrow at him, scowl still evident on his face.

“Vanitas.”

“Ah, he speaks!” now the scowl melted away to a smile, but it was still all wrong, mocking and twisted, nothing at all like Sora’s smiles, wide and open and sincere.

“What are you doing here?” Riku bit out, feeling energy thrumming under his skin. He was thrown off by Vanitas’ presence, by Sora’s face but not, and suddenly he deeply regretted coming here, to the place where he knew only ghosts would wait for him.

“Could ask you the same thing, little master,” and if Riku didn’t know better, he would almost think Vanitas sounded curious. “Would have thought all you guardians would be safely back in your quaint worlds of light, _celebrating_.”

“Would have thought you were _dead_.”

Vanitas snorted. “And give darling Ventus the satisfaction? I think not.”

“So instead you, what? Haunt this place?”

“Why so dismissive? The Keyblade Graveyard is lovely this time of the year.” He spread his arms. “My very own kingdom.”

Riku stared at him incredulous. “You can’t be serious.”

“Of course I’m not serious!” the shift between mocking and enraged Vanitas was almost expected, but Riku still startled at the scream. “But I can hardly go visit Ventus, can I? Those two dumbasses he hangs with would destroy me in a second.”

“You did try to kill them. Multiple times.”

“Whatever,” Vanitas said sullenly, the anger vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared. There was something deeply disturbing about those rapid emotional changes.

“He’s confused,” Sora commented quietly, his voice sad. “He has been angry for so long, he must be so tired… I don’t think he wants to be angry anymore, but he doesn’t know how to be anything else.”

He sounded almost like he understood, but he couldn’t have, because Riku could count the times Sora has gotten angry, really seriously angry, on two hands, and probably still have fingers to spare.

Vanitas frowned. “Did you just say something?”

Riku frowned right back. “No?”

“I could swear… whatever. So what are you doing here… Rikki? Rika?”

“It’s Riku,” he huffed. “And it’s none of your business.”

“Don’t be rude, Riku,” Sora lectured, at the same time as Vanitas said “So rude!” and the echo almost gave Riku vertigo.

“I’m… searching,” he said, reluctantly.

“There aren’t pieces of Xehanort floating around here. Believe me, I would know.”

Riku hadn’t even imagined it was a possibility. Not after Sora has given up everything to stop him. “No, not for him. There was a boy, in the final battle.”

And until he said that, he didn’t realize that was who he was searching for. He hasn’t seen him himself, but Sora told him about it later, after they finished yelling at each other about self-sacrifice and idiocy. Told him about a white-haired boy who gave him the power to control all of the lost keyblades, striking a decisive blow to the mountains of heartless that would have surely finished them.

“Him? Why?” Sora questioned, curious. He brightened. “No, actually, that’s good! I never got to say thank you!”

“Why would you need to thank him?” Vanitas asked. There was a pause. “Wait. Wait. You didn’t say that.”

Riku stared at him, eyes wide. It couldn’t be…

“Who the fuck said that?” Vanitas spat, looking around them wildly. “Come out, wherever you’re hiding!”

“Can he hear me?!” Sora’s voice was shrill with surprise.

“Yes I can fucking hear you, I’m not deaf!”

“You can hear him?” Riku demanded.

“Are _you_ deaf?!” Vanitas glared at him. “I just said I could hear him!”

“How is that possible?” Riku muttered, placing one hand on his chest, right over his heart. “Not even Roxas or Ventus… even Xion couldn’t…”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Vanitas demanded right back, clearly agitated with the mention of Ventus.

Sora recovered quickly, as he always does. “Hi Vanitas! I’m glad to see you didn’t disappear after we defeat Xehanort. I don’t think that would have been fair.”

Vanitas stared blankly at Riku for several moments. “Isn’t he supposed to be dead.”

“ _No_ ,” Riku emphasized strongly.

“I distinctly remember someone saying something about needing his heart for balancing Kingdom Hearts,” Vanitas countered.

“How - you weren’t even there!”

“I lurked. I’m a lurker.”

“Riku did something stupid,” Sora explained, probably overjoyed with being able to talk to anyone else but Riku, even if that was Vanitas. Something in Riku, the dark, jealous part of him that he locked tight after Maleficent, squeezed. He ignored it.

“I’m ignoring you,” Vanitas said, staring into the air right next to Riku. Riku supposed he could appreciate the gesture, even if it was pointless.

“Hey!” Sora protested. “Why?”

“I’m fucked up enough as it is, not gonna add ‘hearing voices’ to my list of issues.”

Despite himself, Riku snorted, getting glared at in response. “You aren’t hearing voices. Er, I mean, you are, but it’s the same voice I’m hearing, so at worst we’re sharing a delusion.”

“Get rid of it,” Vanitas snapped.

“I don’t even know how you can hear him, I have no idea how to make it stop.”

“You know, I _am_ actually here and can hear all of this,” Sora cut in.

“Here where, exactly?”

“In Riku’s heart.”

“ _What?_ ” Vanitas’ eyebrows shot up, his gaze snapping to Riku.

“Like I said, Riku did something stupid,” and Riku could almost feel him nodding.

“What, he snatched your heart right from Kingdom Hearts’ grasp, and is now hiding you there?” Vanitas mocked, before falling silent under Riku’s steady gaze. “Holy shit.”

“Stupid, right?” Sora huffed.

“Are you telling me. That right now. Every person who fought for the light side. All of the guardians and your princesses and your allies. They are all celebrating a balance that… isn’t actually there? Because Riku here had separation anxiety?” Inexplicably, Vanitas started to laugh.

“Shut up,” Riku snapped back without much heat. It wasn’t like Vanitas was saying anything that wasn’t true.

Riku might have been weak for making the choice that he made, might be a coward for refusing to face a future that didn’t have Sora in it, but he refused to apologize for it or regret it. He made his choice, and he’s going to face the consequences.

“But why can you hear me?” Sora wondered. “Roxas and Xion couldn’t… I thought maybe Ven would be able, since we spent such a long time together, but I don’t think he could. Or maybe he was ignoring me?”

There was sadness in his voice, but before Riku could say anything to dispel it Vanitas cut in. “As if anyone could ignore your squeaky voice in their hearts.”

“We have the same voice, you know,” Sora said.

“Wait, in their hearts? You hear Sora in your heart?” Riku asked

“It’s definitely not with my _ears_ , considering he doesn’t have an actual physical presence.”

“Hmm…” Riku frowned, trying to piece it together. “You were created when Xehanort tried to form the X-blade, tearing Ventus into two, light and darkness, yes?”

“Get to the point before I kick your ass,” Vanitas growled, looking uncomfortable.

“And Sora’s heart was the one who saved Ventus’ life at that moment, right? That’s why you have his face.”

“If anything, he has _my_ face. I was here first.”

“But what if you have more than just his face?” Riku asked, ignoring him.

“Well, he also has my voice!” Sora interjected.

“More than just that - what if he has a piece of it? Of your heart. And now it’s… I don’t know, synchronizing with the larger piece of it that is in my heart, allowing him to hear you?”

“Are you saying, or asking,” Vanitas said, if possible looking even more annoyed than before.

“I’m hypothesizing.” Riku rolled his eyes. “It makes sense though. Ventus and the others, they never took anything from your heart, just from your soul or memories. They wouldn’t have this connection. But Vanitas was created right when your heart made contact with Ventus’, before you had anything else _but_ your heart. There was nothing else for him to take.”

“I guess?” Sora groaned. “Those discussions always give me a headache.”

“Great, so now not only am I connected to that naive idiot Ventus, I got this guy yapping in my ears, probably about friendships and light and whatever else you feel the need to talk about,” Vanitas complained.

“It’s not like you’ll be able to hear him once we leave.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“You’re what?” Riku gaped at Vanitas. A second ago he looked like he would like nothing more than to kill Riku where he stood, and now he wanted to travel around with him?

“You’re looking for a guy, you said?” Vanitas asked and started walking towards where Riku came from, ignoring him. “Any specifics?”

“Hang on, I didn’t agree to you coming with us!” Riku strided after him, his longer legs allowing him to catch up quickly.

“Aw, c’mon Riku, he clearly wants to help!”

Vanitas snorted, still walking to Riku’s gummiship. “No I don’t.”

“Then why the hell do you want to come?” Riku demanded.

“Are you kidding? You’re literally circumventing the will of light itself by keeping the brat’s heart. There’s no way I’m missing this shit show.”

“So altruistic,” Riku muttered. “Why should I even let you on my ship? You actually tried to kill my friends multiple times.”

“Who knows, maybe I’ll get back to doing that if you don’t.”

“It might be easier to keep an eye on him if he’s with us, anyway,” Sora mused.

Riku groaned. “Fine, fine! You can come with. But no funny business Vanitas - if I think for one second you’re hindering me from figuring out a way to save Sora from Kingdom Hearts, you’re _done_.”

Vanitas snorted again. “Whatever, pretty boy. I can’t wait to see Ventus’ face when he finds out about this…”

They walked quietly for a bit. Riku hadn’t realized how far he had walked in the badlands before, and he was seriously regretting his spaciness now, wanting this new start to this awkward partnership to be over with.

“Hey, Riku? Why are we looking for that boy I saw?”

Riku sighed. It wasn’t the strongest of plans. It wasn’t built on any actual facts or evidence, but - “He was the only one who was there who doesn’t make sense. Xehanort and his lackeys, us and our allies - we were all supposed to be there. The prophecy and everything, he shouldn’t have been there. We have no idea who he is. But clearly he has some knowledge of what was happening. And if he knew about that…”

“He might know about Kingdom Hearts,” Sora completed for him, his voice contemplative. “I guess that makes sense!”

“If that’s the quality of all of your plans, it really is a miracle you managed to beat us.”

“Shut up Vanitas,” Riku and Sora said together, and something eased inside Riku’s heart. It was hard to know if that was his or Sora’s, this relief that maybe they could figure things out, that as long as they were together, there was a chance. It’d been a month since they’ve been able to agree on anything; Sora has been too angry at Riku for interfering, and Riku had been too angry at Sora for giving up. A month of tense silences and angry shouts, interspaced with brief laughter and ever briefer joy, but maybe that was over for now. Riku never really knew how to be angry at Sora, and Sora never really knew how to be angry at anyone.

And it’s now how Riku thought it was going to be, when he imagined what life would be like after they defeated Xehanort. He expected to go back to Destiny Islands with Sora and Kairi, taking trips to visit their friends across the worlds. Stumbling to explain to their family and friends back home what happened to them, sending secret smiles behind their backs at jokes they would never understand.

But the core component is here - Sora, always Sora, and as long as he has that, well.

He stepped into the gummiship after Vanitas, and for a moment, he swore he could feel a hand in his.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell with me about kh on twitter @gay_to_dawn


End file.
